Description: A suite of 48 samples, including both historical and prehistoric lavas and some plutonic rocks, have been analysed from the Cumbre Vieja rift, La Palma, Canary Islands. Additionally, mineral–melt partition coefficients have been measured for clinopyroxene, plagioclase, amphibole, titanite and apatite in selected rocks. The lavas range from basanite to phonolite (SiO2 = 41·2–57·5 wt % and MgO = 10–0·8 wt %) in composition and form coherent, curvilinear major and trace element arrays in variation diagrams, irrespective of eruption age. The mafic lavas have typical ocean island incompatible trace element patterns and Sr, Nd and Pb isotope compositions show little variation but have a HIMU-type character. Generation of the parental magmas is inferred to have involved ∼4% dynamic melting of a garnet lherzolite source that may have previously been metasomatized by melts derived from a recycled mafic component containing residual phlogopite. The major process of differentiation to phonotephrite involved fractional crystallization of basanitic magmas that evolved along the same liquid line of descent under similar pressure–temperature conditions. Numerical simulations using the MELTS algorithm suggest that this occurred across a temperature interval from c. 1320 to 950°C at 400 MPa and an oxygen fugacity equivalent to quartz–fayalite–magnetite (QFM), with an initial H2O content of 0·3 wt %. The later stages of differentiation (〈5 wt % MgO) were dominated by mixing with partial melts of young syenites formed from earlier magma batches. All of the lavas are characterized by 230Th and 226Ra excesses and (230Th/238U) decreases with decreasing Nb/U and increasing SiO2, with no accompanying change in (226Ra/230Th). To explain the observations, we propose a model in which there was a significant role for amphibole, and more importantly accessory titanite, in decre'asing Nb/U, Ce/Pb and Th/U ratios and increasing or buffering (226Ra/230Th) ratios during the later stages of differentiation and magma mixing. These processes all occurred over a few millennia in small magma batches that were repeatedly emplaced within the mid-crust of the Cumbre Vieja rift system prior to rapid transport to the surface.

Description: Highlights • Individual evolution of temporal and spatial co-existing magma suites • Determination of pre-eruptive magma chamber conditions of the Cão Grande Formation magma chambers • Cão Grande Formation phonolite magmas typically reach H2O-saturation prior to the eruption. Abstract The Cão Grande Formation (CGF) on the western plateau of Santo Antão is a sequence of four phonolitic tephras (Canudo Tephra, Cão Grande I Tephra, Cão Grande II Tephra and Furninha Tephra) produced by highly explosive eruptions that alternatingly originated from a basanitic - phonolitic and a nephelinitic - phonolitic magmatic system. Detailed stratigraphy and petrological investigations of each unit are used to demonstrate the unusual situation that two distinct highly evolved magmas differentiated contemporaneously in separate magmatic systems. Chemical thermobarometry suggests that both magmatic systems not only temporally co-existed, but also that their magma chambers resided close to each other at 7 to 16 km depth, beneath the western plateau of Santo Antão. However, the distinct melt and magma compositions indicate that both systems evolved independently. The only interaction between both magmatic systems was an injection of magma from the nephelinitic - phonolitic magmatic system into the Cão Grande II Tephra (CG II) phonolitic reservoir, which is associated to the basanitic - phonolitic magmatic system. Compositional zonations in the tephra deposits indicate that the eruptions of the CGF tapped stratified magma reservoirs that mainly resulted from crystal accumulation generating downward increasing magma density. However, the CG II tephras also show a significant gradient in melt (glass) compositions. Magmas of the Canudo Tephra (CT) and the Cão Grande I Tephra (CG I) were H2O-saturated and their eruptions were probably triggered by fluid overpressure in the magma chamber. On the other hand, the CG II magma was H2O-undersaturated; we therefore assume that the injection of the hot nephelinitic - phonolitic magma system-type melt/magma triggered the eruption. The zoned deposit of the Furninha Tephra (FT) indicates mafic magma replenishment into a phonolitic reservoir directly prior to the eruption, thus providing a probable triggering mechanism. The new magma chamber models and thermobarometric results for the four CGF units provide constraints for hazard assessments, because similar events may occur in the future considering the longevity of the CGF magma systems.

Description: Microchemical otolith analyses have been shown to provide valuable information on the life history, dispersal and stock characteristics of teleost fish. In the present study, the suitability of this technique for identifying the origin and distribution of Atlantic cod Gadus morhua L. from the Baltic Sea was examined using laser ablation-ICPMS. The capacity to distinguish individuals from different Baltic Sea stocks and from the adjacent North Sea stock based on incoporation of stock-specific elemental fingerprints along otolith growth axes was investigated. It was further tested if different origins led to spawning-site specific element concentrations in otolith cores. The results indicate that microchemical analyses of Baltic cod otoliths are applicable for differentiating individuals of different stocks. Analyses of similarities including 12 element/calcium ratios resulted in significant differences between individuals from the eastern and the western Baltic Sea and between North Sea and Baltic Sea samples. Sr/Ca, Ba/Ca, Y/Ca, Mg/Ca, Zr/Ca and Mn/Ca ratios had the strongest discriminatory power. A further separation of individuals caught in 3 different spawning grounds of the eastern Baltic, however, was not possible. Elemental compositions from the core regions of otoliths from young of the year cod caught in eastern and western Baltic Sea spawning grounds showed significant differences in Sr/Ca, Ba/Ca and Mg/Ca concentrations. Analyses of similarities again showed significant differences between these areas for juveniles. This study demonstrates the potential of otolith microchemical analyses to provide important information about the stock structure and connectivity of G. morhua in the Baltic Sea.

Description: Highlights: • Marie Byrd Seamounts (MBS) formed off Antarctica at 65-56 Ma in an extensional regime • MBS originate from HIMU-type mantle attached at the base of the Antarctic lithosphere • Continental insulation flow transferred HIMU mantle into the oceanic mantle New radiometric age and geochemical data of volcanic rocks from the guyot-type Marie Byrd Seamounts (MBS) and the De Gerlache Seamounts and Peter I Island (Amundsen Sea) are presented. 40Ar/39Ar ages of the shield phase of three MBS are Early Cenozoic (65 to 56 Ma) and indicate formation well after creation of the Pacific-Antarctic Ridge. A Pliocene age (3.0 Ma) documents a younger phase of volcanism at one MBS and a Pleistocene age (1.8 Ma) for the submarine base of Peter I Island. Together with published data, the new age data imply that Cenozoic intraplate magmatism occurred at distinct time intervals in spatially confined areas of the Amundsen Sea, excluding an origin through a fixed mantle plume. Peter I Island appears strongly influenced by an EMII type mantle component that may reflect shallow mantle recycling of a continental raft during the final breakup of Gondwana. By contrast the Sr-Nd-Pb-Hf isotopic compositions of the MBS display a strong affinity to a HIMU type mantle source. On a regional scale the isotopic signatures overlap with those from volcanics related to the West Antarctic Rift System, and Cretaceous intraplate volcanics in and off New Zealand. We propose reactivation of the HIMU material, initially accreted to the base of continental lithosphere during the pre-rifting stage of Marie Byrd Land/Zealandia to explain intraplate volcanism in the Amundsen Sea in the absence of a long-lived hotspot. We propose continental insulation flow as the most plausible mechanism to transfer the sub-continental accreted plume material into the shallow oceanic mantle. Crustal extension at the southern boundary of the Bellingshausen Plate from about 74 to 62 Ma may have triggered adiabatic rise of the HIMU material from the base of Marie Byrd Land to form the MBS. The De Gerlache Seamounts are most likely related to a preserved zone of lithospheric weakness underneath the De Gerlache Gravity Anomaly.

Description: Volcanic sequences on ocean islands record the temporal evolution of underlying magmatic systems and provide insights into how silicic crust is produced away from convergent margins. Assimilation has often been suspected to contribute, but the detection of such a process and its evolving maturity during migration across a mantle plume is less well documented. Here we present new major and trace element and Sr-Nd-Pb-U-Th-Ra-Pa isotope data that facilitate comparison of basanite to phonolite evolution on Tenerife (Canary Islands) with that shown by published data from La Palma. On both islands, (230Th/238U) ratios decrease with differentiation from parental magmas with 230Th excess toward different, silicic contaminants in secular equilibrium. On La Palma, this is inferred to reflect assimilation of small amounts of mafic wall rock. On Tenerife, both (230Th/238U) and (231Pa/235U) ratios decrease toward 1 with increasing differentiation, and this is accompanied by a subtle increase in Pb isotope ratios. At the same time, (226Ra/230Th) ratios change from 〈1 to 〉1 (a hitherto unreported magnitude). The Tenerife assimilant is thus constrained to be a partial melt of syenite formed in equilibrium with residual feldspar. The differences reflect a primarily deeper, more mafic magma system beneath La Palma during its late shield-building stage, whereas recent magmatic evolution at Tenerife occurs primarily at lower temperatures in small, shallower magma systems formed during its post–basaltic shield stage. Differentiation takes millennia or less.

Description: We have conducted a barometric study of basaltic lavas and mafic to ultramafic xenoliths from Cumbre Vieja volcano (La Palma) in order to reconstruct magma storage, plumbing and related intrusive island growth. The samples were collected both along the volcano's rift zone and from its subaerial and submarine flanks up to 30 km off the rift axis. Clinopyroxene–melt barometry of lavas yields a well-defined pressure range of 410–770 MPa (average 600 MPa) and shows no systematic variation with sample locality. This pressure range reflects a major fractionation level at ca. 15–26 km depth, within the uppermost mantle, where phenocrysts and melt last equilibrated. In contrast, microthermometry of CO2-dominated fluid inclusions in phenocrysts and xenoliths gives pressure estimates of 240 to 470 MPa (average 330 MPa), within the lower oceanic crust. These pressures are interpreted to reflect an underplating zone at 7–14 km depth where ascending magmas become ponded prior to eruption and where passing magmas temporarily stagnate during eruption. The underplating zone is inferred to extend to a radius of ca. 30 km at least, and its depth appears to increase slightly with distance to the rift axis. Our data thus show a remarkable pressure bimodality for long-term and short-term storage of magma that appears to be characteristic for Cumbre Vieja. By using a simple model based on the cumulative volume of material added to the crust, we have estimated uplift rates of 〉 0.5 m/ka due to underplating that occurs on the island scale. On a time-scale of some 10 ka, these uplift rates are of similar magnitude as global changes in sea-level. A second, more local mode of uplift and related faulting is caused by shallow intrusions into the volcanic edifice as is indicated by the highly irregular morphology of the Cumbre Vieja. We stress that intrusion-related uplift should be qualitatively considered when reconstructing the evolution of oceanic island volcanoes. Since most of the underplated material is inferred to consist of cumulate rocks being intimately mixed and juxtaposed with the lower oceanic crust and having similar densities, it is probably impossible to detect such an underplating zone seismically.

Description: The Madeira-Tore Rise, located ∼700 km off the NW African coast, forms a prominent ridge in the east Atlantic. The age and origin of the rise are controversial. This study presents major and trace element, Sr, Nd, Pb, Hf isotope and 40Ar/39Ar age determinations from volcanic rocks dredged from different sites along the rise. In addition, isotopic compositions of rock samples from Great Meteor Seamount in the central Atlantic are presented. The new radiometric and paleontologically constrained ages identify two major episodes of volcanism: The first is the base of the rise (circa 80 to 〉95 Ma) and the second is seamounts on the rise (0.5–16 Ma). It is proposed that interaction of the Canary hot spot with the Mid-Atlantic spreading center formed the deep basement of the Madeira-Tore Rise and the J-Anomaly Ridge west of the Atlantic spreading center in the Mid-Cretaceous. Age and geochemical data and plate tectonic reconstructions suggest, however, that the recovered Late Cretaceous volcanic rocks represent late stage volcanism from the time when the Madeira-Tore Rise was still close to the Canary hot spot. Long after moving away from the influence of the Canary hot spot, the Madeira-Tore Rise was overprinted by late Cenozoic volcanism. Miocene to Pleistocene volcanism at the northern end of the rise can be best explained by decompression mantle melting beneath extensional sectors of the Azores-Gibraltar Fracture Zone (African-Eurasian plate boundary). The geochemical compositions of these volcanic rocks suggest that the magmas were variably contaminated by enriched material within or derived by melting of enriched material underplated at the base of the lithosphere, possibly originating from the Cretaceous Canary plume. Alternatively, these late Cenozoic volcanic rocks may have derived from decompression melting of enriched pyroxenitic/eclogitic material in the upper mantle. Isotopically more depleted Pliocene to Pleistocene volcanism at the southern end of the Madeira-Tore Rise may be related to the nearby Madeira hot spot.